Untitled and Nine Days a Week screen for free at Bronx Documentary Center on Sunday, 10/16, at 4pm as part of Congo in Harlem 14

***WORK IN PROGRESS*** UNTITLED

2022, 20 min, Dir. Maliyamungu Gift Muhande, Documentary, USA.

NINE DAYS A WEEK

2020, 15 min, Dir. Maliyamungu Gift Muhande, Documentary, USA, English.

Join us at the Bronx Documentary Center for the Closing Reception of Congo in Conversation. The event is co-sponsored by Congo in Harlem and Friends of the Congo, and will feature two short films by filmmaker/artist Maliyamungu Gift Muhande. The screening will be accompanied by a live music and dance performance, and will be followed by an intimate conversation with the filmmaker, artists, and participants of the films. At the close of the event, we will serve traditional Congolese food and provide more opportunities for conversation and community building. UNTITLED: Shortly after moving to New York City, Congolese filmmaker Maliyamungu Muhande connects with Thelma Loubaki, an African American woman celebrating and preserving Soukous music and dance. This autoethnographic documentary unfolds as an investigation of Soukous as a portal across continents, reflecting on cultural displacement and cultural connection from afar. NINE DAYS A WEEK: African American street photographer Louis Mendes began his career in 1953 Harlem as a door-to-door baby photographer. Taking street portraits across the city, through the civil rights movement, the drug epidemic, crime, and poverty, Mendes forged a living with his 1940s Speed Graphic press camera. Now a New York legend with 37 photographer apprentices, he reflects on a life of hard work, survival, and creativity.

Followed by a discussion with Maliyamungu Gift Muhande and special guests + Live Music and Congolese Food.